Military organizations use a variety military training techniques to instill skills into their members. One of the most effective types of military training is realistic training, otherwise known as war games. This type of training simulates actual combat scenarios and allows the participants to undergo a realistic combat experience. War games usually involve actual deployments of troops and vehicles into a limited area and include all of the movement and action that takes place during a real combat scenario but typically without the danger of live ordinance and ammunition.
Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) is a military training system that provides a realistic battlefield environment for soldiers involved in training exercises. MILES provides tactical engagement simulation for direct fire force-on-force training using eye safe laser “bullets.” Each individual and vehicle in the training exercise has a detection system to sense hits and perform casualty assessment. Laser transmitters are attached to each individual and vehicle weapon system and accurately replicate actual ranges and lethality of the specific weapon systems. MILES training has been proven to dramatically increase the combat readiness and fighting effectiveness of military forces.
Soldiers use MILES devices primarily during force-on-force exercises, from squad through brigade level, to simulate the firing and effects of actual weapons systems. These weapons systems include the M1 Abrams Tank, Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, wheeled vehicles and other non-shooting targets. Additionally, basic MILES simulations address anti-armor weapons, machine guns, rifles, and other ancillary items, such as a controller gun, within the program. Combat vehicles, support vehicles and individual solders are instrumented with a GPS receiver for position location determination and a transmitter for sending all recorded data back to central command. All player activity is recorded during an exercise. Position location, and direct and indirect fire event reporting is accomplished through the associated transmitter.
One of the restrictions on the mobile units used on individual soldiers and some vehicles is energy expenditure. These mobile units run on battery power, which is finite and sometimes too short. As such, various aspects of the system often drain battery power rather quickly. One example is the periodic nature by which a mobile unit gathers and transmits data, even if no event has transpired since the last event was gathered and transmitted. This can be redundant and wasteful of battery power. Further, event data may sometimes have to be transmitted over long distances to a command and control center. This can quickly drain a battery's resources as transmissions over longer stances require higher signal strengths. This is not an optimal use of resources.
Another problem with the mobile units used during training exercises is radio attenuation and radio frequency (RF) reflections. Various environmental factors can affect the strength, path and overall structure of a radio signal. Varied terrain such as mountains, forests and hills can reduce signal strength and sometimes block the signal completely. Likewise, man-made structures such as buildings and vehicles can attenuate a radio signal and garble the information within it. A common transmission problem arises when individuals are inside buildings or other structures. Transmissions of an RF signal inside a room or other structure can lead to reflections, reduced signal strengths and different types of interference.
Much like transmissions from inside of a building to the outside can be compromised, transmissions from outside a building to receivers inside of a building can also be compromised. Various procedures of the MILES system call for the transmission of a command or other signal to wearers of a mobile unit. When the wearer is inside of a building, this can pose an obstacle to the reception of a clear signal. Thus, it can be difficult to track individuals inside of structures as the exchange of information over radio can be blocked by walls. It can further be difficult to disseminate game information, such as simulated explosions and shots, inside of a building as the signals do not always survive travel. And further, exchanging MILES information between players inside of an edifice is not always successful.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a more efficient way for logging and communicating event data during simulation exercises conducted in or around man-made structures.